


"O" is for the only one (i see)

by stilesinwonderland (itsabravenewworld)



Series: The L.O.V.E series [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 12:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2192442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsabravenewworld/pseuds/stilesinwonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one with blanket forts</p>
            </blockquote>





	"O" is for the only one (i see)

 

 

“Erica?”

 

“ _Yeah?”_

 

“I’m stuck in traffic, I need you to pick Lea up from school for me.”

 

_“Wha-- no fucking way, Der.”_

 

“And why not?”

 

_“Probably because she hates me? Maybe because she’s the spawn of Satan? No. And I will not be bribed this time.”_

 

“I can’t let her sit there, Erica, damn it. There’s been a pile-up on the highway and it will take me forever to get out of here. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need it.”

 

There’s a pause over the phone that goes long enough that Derek worries he’s been disconnected, before she says, “ _fucking--_ fine _,”_ and hangs up on him.

 

-

 

Derek gets takeout because he’s tired from hours of signing papers and talking to insurance agents, and doesn’t have the energy to make a full meal. Erica looks ready to hit him when he walks in, even when he offers her an egg roll.

 

“Where’s Lea?” he asks, keeping his voice low as she hovers over him.

 

“She’s asleep on the couch. She wouldn’t stop _running around_ and she passed out ten minutes ago during a movie.”

 

“Thank you,” Derek says, and Erica laughs bitterly.

 

“Even though you’re my alpha, you will not convince me to watch her next time,” she hisses.  Still, there’s a fondness in her eyes when she glances back toward the couch where Lea’s resting. Derek won’t call her on it, but he knows that Erica loves Lea. Which is a big deal, considering her feelings about children in general. “Ask Boyd next time or something.”

 

Even with Erica’s hushed tone, Derek is sure Lea can still hear her from her slumped-over position on the couch. He is tuned in to the way Lea breathes when she sleeps by now; she always whistles slightly through her nose and it’s too delicate to be a snore, but it’s heavier than when she’s awake.

 

She’s not doing that now, so Derek knows that she’s pretending to be asleep because Erica doesn’t know any better.

 

Derek sighs, and gives Erica a placating nod. She leaves in a huff of perfume and muttered swears. Derek sighs again when she’s gone, takes in the sight of his living room. It’s relatively clean, save for some stray toys, and the TV is on at a low volume. Derek kneels down next to his daughter’s too-still body, curled over the arm of the couch.

 

“Lea,” he says quietly, running a hand over her hair. It’s a little knotted from the way she’s laying on it and she looks like she could actually be asleep because she seems beat. But Derek knows better, because it’s only five o’clock and the sun is shining right in Lea’s face. “Lea,” he says again, louder, but still under a whisper, poking at her arm until she starts wiggling.

 

Lea squints her eyes tighter closed, like she’s refusing to be caught. “Is she gone?” she asks quietly.

 

Derek smiles slightly. “You tell me. Can you hear her?”

 

“I can hear her car,” Lea says. She finally opens her eyes and looks at Derek. She touches at his wrist, staring off into the distance, attempting to listen. “She’s gone.”

 

Derek feels a surge of pride, because she’s actually spot on. “Very good, Lea.” Lea smiles proudly, but it fades when Derek fixes her with a glare. “Now, what have I told you about giving your Aunt Erica a hard time when I’m gone?”

 

Lea tries her best to look innocent, and it’s so obvious that she doesn’t really feel bad at all. Derek scoops her up and blows raspberries into her neck, scratching her with his stubble until she’s screaming shrilly into his ear. “But daddy!” she cries defensively when he finishes the attack. “Aunt Erica didn’t want to make _forts!”_

 

She sounds so affronted that Derek nearly bites his tongue off to keep from laughing right at her.

 

“She didn’t want to make _forts?”_ he repeats, and hopes his tone doesn’t sound as sarcastic as he feels.

 

“Yeah! She’s mean!” She gestures wildly with her hand and Derek sits on the couch next to her. Lea crosses her legs and puts her hands in her lap, staring intently at him with Laura’s dark brown eyes.

 

Derek huffs out a laugh, even though he kind of hurts at that realization.

 

“Mr. Stilinski lets us build forts in class all the time,” Lea informs Derek. Derek’s eyes snap to her, the image a sudden barrage on his calmed mind. Stiles building forts with children is something he was not prepared to experience.

 

“Does he?” he asks anyways, voice gruff and quieter than the cacophony in his mind.

 

“Yeah! For storytime and when it’s raining and it’s s’posed to be recess time!” Lea is bouncing excitedly on the couch. “Mr. Stilinski is the best at it,” she says, almost dreamily.

 

“Can we make a fort?” Lea asks when Derek doesn’t respond to her.

 

“Maybe after dinner. Now c’mon, go wash up.”

 

“But daddy!”

 

“Do I need to eat all of the fried rice without you?”

 

Lea lets out an indignant screech and her little legs scramble to untangle until she’s running through the apartment into the bathroom. He can hear her struggling with the little stool she needs to wash her hands in the high sink. “No!” she argues, just to be contrary.

 

“That’s what I thought,” Derek said with a sly grin.

 

-

 

“Daddy, you’re no good at it,” Lea tells Derek after a half an hour of Derek trying to fix his couches and tables to fit the sheets over. He’s trying to make a canopy that they can sit under and at the same time see the TV because Lea wants to watch movies in her fort and eat her dinner in it.

 

It’s his third try, and he is hanging over the couch, one knee placed on the arm, pulling the last sheet-corner to hang it up. If he can manage to snag it over the broom he has perched against the wall, then it should all stand up like a tent.

 

“Mr. Stilinski likes to use lots more pillows,” Lea informs him, crossing her little arms in front of her chest.

 

Derek’s fingers stumble with the sheet where it creases together and it goes toppling over when he knocks the broom over, bringing down the whole foundation with it. He falls down on top of the blankets and pillows with a huff, his ass sticking up into the air. With a groan, he rolls onto his back.

 

“Lea,” he growls.

 

“What?” Lea asks, eyes wide.

 

Derek sighs heavily, sits up, and resolves to build a large nest of blankets instead of an actual fort. He piles them all up and sets Lea in the middle of the large pile. It’s comfy, and even though Lea pouts the entire first half of _Finding Nemo_ because it’s not an awesome fort like Mr. Stilinski’s, she ends up half-asleep at eight pm, her body tucked in the crook of Derek’s shoulder. He’s reading one of his novels instead of actually watching along with her (he’s seen this one enough times to know all the monologues _and_ the accents anyways), but soon enough he feels himself falling asleep too.

 

“Maybe you could ask Mr. Stilinski to teach you how to make a fort,” Lea suggests innocently, yawning.

 

Derek wonders if this counts as enough of an emergency to email Stiles and ask him how he manages to keep his forts up.

 

He decides not, and deletes the draft he’s had open on his phone for forty minutes.                          

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i fucking love blanket forts  
> (comments are always appreciated!)


End file.
